madmike2
Shtirrenuppenmeister
What a great time! Last Chance and I met at Starbucks in Elk Grove, I had my "usual": Hot Chocolate. Sacramento Mike and gfran joined us @ 1000 and we heades toward the Sierra Foothills.
The weather forecast was "cloudy". I called uberkul as we were suiting up to ask what the weather was like in the foothills. He says, "It's sunny at my house, what a great day for a ride."
So off we go, Eastbound toward the hills under cloudy skies and looking forward to some sunshine.
Here we are riding on Twin Cities Rd. (Hwy 104) under "cloudy" skies. At least it wasn't raining.
Riding through the rolling farmland I took this picture of a barn....just for OrangevaleFJR:
As we neared the town of Ione, CA, I took this photo of the old Preston Castle. Years ago it was a California Youth Authority prison where they taught the inmates different trades. It is now empty, deteriorating and still owned by the State.
We rode through Ione and crossed. Hwy 88 then rode to Buena Vista Rd. where I THOUGHT we were to meet uberkul and uberwife at the Buena Vista Market. I got a cell phone call from Brad, but couldn't make out what he was saying. Here are gfran and Last Chance standing guard over the bikes:
We waited about 10 minutes, then decided to head toward Jackson on Stony Creek Rd. We were all looking forward to breaking out of the clouds and enjoying the sunshine. In this picture we are crossing the bridge on the North side of Lake Pardee:
Here is gfran and the others following me across the bridge:
On the far side of the bridge the road makes a hard right (10 mph turn) and starts up into the foothills. This is a fun road, of course its waaaayyyy fun in when the weather is sunny and dry:
We got to Jackson and stopped at the rest area. The uberkuls came riding up...bringing the sunshine with them:
We then headed South on Hwy 49 to San Andreas. The ride leader (yours truly), Mr. Ham Hands, Klutzo-madmike2, managed to open the battery cap on the camera and proceed to drop the batteries when taking a picture. I pulled over at the top of Pool Station Rd. to install new batteries and the uberkuls pulled up to take a picture of the proceedings. Of course, I had to take a "test shot" just to make sure the camera was working:
Don't they look all "spiffy" in their riding garb, enjoying a Spring ride in the sunshine? Even Sacramento Mike is enjoying the day:
Here is the group following me down Pools Station Rd. It is waaaay kewel to have the riders spaced out in safe intervals. I can't tell you how frustrating it is on other rides when everyone "feels the need" to crowd other riders.
A couple of riders have asked, "How do you take those pictures while riding on the backroads?"
Well, here's an example. First, you hold the camera in your hand (Being very careful no NOT open the battery cover and drop the batteries. Doh!), point and shoot! Simple...see the mirror?
Then, aim a little farther up the road and you get this picture:
And then take one over your shoulder and you get this:
Of course, we are all enjoying the lovely sunny day promised by uberkul. Then we catch other vehicles that have the audacity to use "our" road. At least we didn't get passed by a scooter!
Just before Hwy 4, we passed this little homestead. Some people seem to enjoy the "provincial" way of life:
We turned West on Hwy 4 and left onto Obyrnes Ferry Rd. Here's a shot of beautiful downtown Copperopolis:
We headed farther South to the canyon where Obyrne once had his ferry. This is in the draw approaching the monument:
This is the bridge over the top end of Lake Tulloch, on the North fork of the Calaveras River:
The guys coming up out of the gorge:
Then we headed East on Hwy 108 toward Sonora. We stopped in Jamestown to call a Sonora resident to join us for lunch. The FJRs at the Chevron Feed Trough:
We continued on to The Peppery Grill for lunch:
Here are the FJR owners at The Peppery Food Trough. L-R: gfran, Sacramento Mike, uber-phographer and Last Chance.
After lunch we got ready to head North toward home while the sunshine is still with us. L-R: uberwife, Sacramento Mike's back, Last Chance's black-helmeted head, the Sonora resident who joined us for lunch and gfran:
Following the uberkuls in the sunshine on Rawhide Rd. (that circles West and North around Sonora) bypassing the traffic "mess":
gfran following me following uberkul (and pillion, uberwife):
The uber-team soon left the rest of us in their dust. We continued North on Hwy 49 toward home. This is a picture of part of beautiful downtown Calaveras (made famous by Mark Twain in his account of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County:
All in all, it was great to be out riding and enjoying the company of other FJR owners. Even if Brad's promised "sunny weather" never materialized. We had sunshine in our hearts and minds.....
I wish the rest of you could have made the ride, too!
The weather forecast was "cloudy". I called uberkul as we were suiting up to ask what the weather was like in the foothills. He says, "It's sunny at my house, what a great day for a ride."
So off we go, Eastbound toward the hills under cloudy skies and looking forward to some sunshine.
Here we are riding on Twin Cities Rd. (Hwy 104) under "cloudy" skies. At least it wasn't raining.
Riding through the rolling farmland I took this picture of a barn....just for OrangevaleFJR:
As we neared the town of Ione, CA, I took this photo of the old Preston Castle. Years ago it was a California Youth Authority prison where they taught the inmates different trades. It is now empty, deteriorating and still owned by the State.
We rode through Ione and crossed. Hwy 88 then rode to Buena Vista Rd. where I THOUGHT we were to meet uberkul and uberwife at the Buena Vista Market. I got a cell phone call from Brad, but couldn't make out what he was saying. Here are gfran and Last Chance standing guard over the bikes:
We waited about 10 minutes, then decided to head toward Jackson on Stony Creek Rd. We were all looking forward to breaking out of the clouds and enjoying the sunshine. In this picture we are crossing the bridge on the North side of Lake Pardee:
Here is gfran and the others following me across the bridge:
On the far side of the bridge the road makes a hard right (10 mph turn) and starts up into the foothills. This is a fun road, of course its waaaayyyy fun in when the weather is sunny and dry:
We got to Jackson and stopped at the rest area. The uberkuls came riding up...bringing the sunshine with them:
We then headed South on Hwy 49 to San Andreas. The ride leader (yours truly), Mr. Ham Hands, Klutzo-madmike2, managed to open the battery cap on the camera and proceed to drop the batteries when taking a picture. I pulled over at the top of Pool Station Rd. to install new batteries and the uberkuls pulled up to take a picture of the proceedings. Of course, I had to take a "test shot" just to make sure the camera was working:
Here is the group following me down Pools Station Rd. It is waaaay kewel to have the riders spaced out in safe intervals. I can't tell you how frustrating it is on other rides when everyone "feels the need" to crowd other riders.
A couple of riders have asked, "How do you take those pictures while riding on the backroads?"
Well, here's an example. First, you hold the camera in your hand (Being very careful no NOT open the battery cover and drop the batteries. Doh!), point and shoot! Simple...see the mirror?
Then, aim a little farther up the road and you get this picture:
And then take one over your shoulder and you get this:
Of course, we are all enjoying the lovely sunny day promised by uberkul. Then we catch other vehicles that have the audacity to use "our" road. At least we didn't get passed by a scooter!
Just before Hwy 4, we passed this little homestead. Some people seem to enjoy the "provincial" way of life:
We turned West on Hwy 4 and left onto Obyrnes Ferry Rd. Here's a shot of beautiful downtown Copperopolis:
We headed farther South to the canyon where Obyrne once had his ferry. This is in the draw approaching the monument:
This is the bridge over the top end of Lake Tulloch, on the North fork of the Calaveras River:
The guys coming up out of the gorge:
Then we headed East on Hwy 108 toward Sonora. We stopped in Jamestown to call a Sonora resident to join us for lunch. The FJRs at the Chevron Feed Trough:
We continued on to The Peppery Grill for lunch:
Here are the FJR owners at The Peppery Food Trough. L-R: gfran, Sacramento Mike, uber-phographer and Last Chance.
After lunch we got ready to head North toward home while the sunshine is still with us. L-R: uberwife, Sacramento Mike's back, Last Chance's black-helmeted head, the Sonora resident who joined us for lunch and gfran:
Following the uberkuls in the sunshine on Rawhide Rd. (that circles West and North around Sonora) bypassing the traffic "mess":
gfran following me following uberkul (and pillion, uberwife):
The uber-team soon left the rest of us in their dust. We continued North on Hwy 49 toward home. This is a picture of part of beautiful downtown Calaveras (made famous by Mark Twain in his account of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County:
All in all, it was great to be out riding and enjoying the company of other FJR owners. Even if Brad's promised "sunny weather" never materialized. We had sunshine in our hearts and minds.....
I wish the rest of you could have made the ride, too!
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